With
a length of 60.4 meters this corvette size vessel is designed for littoral
operations. A sign on display at the show indicated:"In order to face the increasing threat across the Taiwan Strait,
ROC Navy has developed a new type of Littoral Combat Ship, High Efficiency
Wave Piercing Catamaran (WPC). This ship design increases ship mobility,
and provides for greater stealth technology, larger capacity, and better
adaptability to environmental conditions. This new class of ships is
designed by Naval Shipbuilding Development Center (NSDC) and Ship Ocean
Industries R&D Center (SOIC). The High Efficiency Wave Piercing
Catamaran (WPC) is currently under construction by the Lund-De Shipbuilding
Corporation."

This
Taiwanese "Littoral Combat Ship" is heavily armed for its
size as it is fitted with no less than 16 anti-ship missiles. Representatives
at the show said the catamaran corvette may fire both Hsiung Feng II
and Hsiung Feng III missiles making it a potent ASUW platform. HF-3
missile is expected to have a range of 130 kilometers and is reported
to be capable of reaching speeds of Mach 2 while the older generation
HF-2 missile has a range of 160 kilometers and reach subsonic speeds.

In addition to anti-ship missiles, the corvette is fitted with a 76mm
main gun, 4x 12.7mm machine guns and a Phalanx 20mm CIWS. There is no
helicopter hangar; however the deck may accommodate a medium size helicopter
(10 tons class). Propulsion is achieved through 4 waterjets.